The North London club remain in contention to fulfill their chief season objective of finishing in the Premier League's top four.

Yet, Spurs' erratic form has led to increasing media speculation about Sherwood's job, with current Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal the consensus favourite to replace him.

Coming under so much scrutiny, an uninformed onlooker could be forgiven for thinking the 45-year-old is completely fluffing his job. In reality, he has done some things rather well.

As a point of comparison, the following article looks at the things Sherwood has done better than his predecessor Villas-Boas.

To be honest, based on Spurs' results since then, you could argue there not being a lot of difference between the two quality-wise. Essentially, this is an excuse to look at the qualities of a coach who is having a tough time of it (depending on your viewpoint, fairly or unfairly).

Amongst the more genuinely viewed ones (on this writer's part at least), a few light-hearted improvements instigated by Sherwood are also reflected upon.

Sherwood Has Got the Best out of Adebayor

Ian Walton/Getty ImagesAdebayor has enjoyed his football since Sherwood became his manager.

A significant reason for the increase in goals has been Sherwood's restoration of Emmanuel Adebayor to the Tottenham starting lineup.

Disagreements with Villas-Boas led to the Togo international being left out of the first-team picture save for a substitute appearance away at Manchester City in November.

The Portuguese had struggled to get the best out of Adebayor even prior to their falling out.

Albeit exacerbated by injuries and a lack of fitness resulting from no real preseason after completing his move from Man City, the striker largely underwhelmed in 2012-13. Though his form picked up later in the campaign, his eight goals in all disappointed compared to the 18 the season prior.

Since returning to the first-team rotation in December, Adebayor has scored 13 times. Sherwood has benefited from being the coach to bring him back in from the cold. But perhaps this would have been the player's response regardless.

Adebayor has not been shy in praising his manager's work. Speaking to Sky Sports after the Sunderland win, he said:

I'm a player, he's picking me and I'm scoring goals, so I hope he stays. But I'm not the chairman, I'm not the owner of the club, so no matter what happens I will focus on my football and doing my job for the club.

But he has been a big thing in my life. When everyone forgot about me, he gave me back my life. I'm very grateful and owe big thanks for that. I keep saying it. No matter what happens to the manager, I respect him as a manager and as a footballer.

Less Rigidity and Letting the Players Get on with It

Clive Rose/Getty ImagesChristian Eriksen comes in from the left against Benfica.

A double-edged sword, this one.

Tottenham have favoured a more relaxed approach tactically under Sherwood compared to Villas-Boas. Players naturally still have defined duties, but a little more flexibility in how they apply them.

Spurs are less rigidly adhering to a specific system too, and have moved between adaptations of 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 formations.

This has not always worked well. In the losses to Manchester City and Liverpool, the well-drilled title challengers were able to expose the looseness—flimsiness, even—of the Spurs lines of setup. There were elements of this too in their going behind at West Brom last week.

Oppositely, Spurs' attacking players have benefited from a little more freedom.

Christian Eriksen's deployment out on left wing has left Spurs lacking balance sometimes. On other occasions—at home to Dnipro in the Europa League and most recently in the thrashing of Sunderland—his license to roam and dictate possession has resulted in greater production creatively.

The previously mentioned Adebayor has relished being able to operate across the front line as he sees fit. Others like Nacer Chadli and Gylfi Sigurdsson have enjoyed their chances to play centrally rather than consigned to the flanks.

Sherwood's selections and tactics would certainly need refining if he is still in charge next season. But the general concept of letting the players play—not far removed from the mantra of his old boss Harry Redknapp—is no bad thing if properly applied.

The Club's Youngsters Are Getting Chances

Michael Steele/Getty ImagesNabil Bentaleb has arguably benefited the most from Sherwood's appointment.

After bringing Adebayor back and moving to a loose 4-4-2, Sherwood's next big decision as Spurs boss was promoting Nabil Bentaleb to the senior squad.

The 19-year-old midfielder came on in his manager's first game in charge against Southampton and has since started 14 games.

Selecting Bentaleb ahead of more experienced players at the club has not pleased everyone. It is fair to say the Algerian was persisted with for a game or two too many late into winter.

Bentaleb has already improved during these fledgling experiences, though. His passing was his most obvious attribute initially, but he looked less assured defending. Away at Benfica he did strong work in a deeper role in midfield, showing a better sense of maturity and discipline than had previously been seen.

Come next season, Bentaleb is likely to have benefited from the unexpected learning on the job he has received of late.

Harry Kane has also been handed his chance this past month, scoring twice in his first two starts for Spurs.

Villas-Boas was gradually involving the 20-year-old striker more into his plans, but as of last October was still considering sending him out on loan again if the right situation arose—per Sky Sports.

Sherwood too had preferred more senior options up front until recently, but with Roberto Soldado injured, he has tried Kane out with positive results.

In his previous role as a youth team coach and technical coordinator overseeing the club's young players, Sherwood knew well of the talents of these players.

While Andros Townsend forced himself into the first-team picture over 2013, it was less a given Bentaleb and Kane would get their opportunities. Sherwood's decision to do so looks like paying off in the short- and long-term.

Sherwood Speaks Well About His Ideas

Steve Bardens/Getty ImagesSherwood at a Europa League press conference prior to Spurs playing Benfica.

Since being handed a caretaker mandate following Villas-Boas' departure, right through his attempts to prove he deserves to manage Tottenham, Sherwood has spoken in detail about his ideas, methods and to an extent, his view for the club's future direction.

Speaking to The Independent's Sam Wallace back in December he was clear in his understanding of how "winning is very important. So it’s a fine balance between being attractive and winning games."

The general impression was of a realist, but one also willing to engage the decision-makers at his club in the best possible direction moving forward:

I know the football club, I know the demands of the fans and I know what players we have at the club. But whether those demands are what the hierarchy here want is a different matter. We have to determine what success is for a football club. That is something for the powers-that-be to decide.

In an interview with Wallace last month, he was just as open about his views on transfer policy and using young players.

Just about any interview with the ex-pundit is the same. If you care to ask him about something, he is willing to answer well, and that is refreshing in any manager.

It is not great viewing for Spurs supporters seeking to rid that performance from their memory. But as an example of a manager not pulling any punches about the result, his team's display and even the character of some of his players, Sherwood is not making any excuses for them.

As with many things with him, whether this is poor man-management or a coach giving his players a justified kick up the backside depends on your viewpoint. Either way, it is captivating television.

Sherwood Does Not Shy Away from His Emotions

Paul Gilham/Getty ImagesSherwood was not best pleased during Spurs' North London derby loss.

Sherwood's emotional side certainly extends to the sidelines.

For football fans who like to see their managers engaged and showing their passion, he is among the more overt currently prowling the Premier League's technical areas.

In better moments for his team he is right there with the fans celebrating.

During tougher times, he is not shy in expressing anger or disgust with his players—as was the case in a bad start in the 1-0 home loss to Arsenal when he tossed his coat aside.

Opposition beware too, you do something to cross Sherwood and he will let you know about it. Benfica boss Jorge Jesus found that out when his pointed celebrating raised the ire of his counterpart.

Sherwood's emotion is such it partly informed his decision to take to the stands to watch the away leg against Benfica, and then at Liverpool.

That he had done so, as he also had initially in his first game against Southampton, was in large part because of wanting a better overview of his team—as he pointed out after the Reds' loss, as reported by the Daily Telegraph's Pete Oliver (and you undoubtedly get a much better idea of how a team is playing high up in the stands than pitch-side).

But while it partly drove Sherwood up there, it also brought him back to ground level. Not being able to affect his team at closer quarters was too much to bear.

Sherwood Is Reinventing Manager Style

"In his short time as Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood has made the gilet his own," so read the opening line of an article by The Independent's Joe Lamb and Simon Rice looking at items (such as Roberto Mancini's scarf or Brian Clough's green jumper) managers have come to be associated with.

If you had no idea the coat-waistcoat hybrid Sherwood has often been seen wearing (as pictured above) was called a gilet, you were not alone.

Whether it catches on as the latest item in manager style remains to be seen. That might depend on if Sherwood keeps the Spurs job and is able to make it fashionable.

Until Tony Pulis swaps his trademark baseball cap for a jaunty beret or Arsene Wenger trades his coat with the troublesome zipper for a leather jacket, Sherwood stands as the Premier League's current trendsetter.

It Is All About the Club

Ian Walton/Getty ImagesSherwood and his staff are truly committed to the Tottenham cause.

Managers being affronted or hurt by criticism is understandable—they are human after all.

Perhaps Villas-Boas got caught up a little in his own drama late in his Spurs reign, though, particularly with the public dispute with journalists from the Daily Mail.

Sherwood has not been totally immune to this, but one of the consistent themes of his interviews and press conferences—and you can look at just about any one of them for this—is how he has tried to keep things focused as much as possible on Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

This is partly a product of his job's circumstances. He is on an 18-month contract, trying to convince his superiors he deserves to fulfill that time, let alone earn more.

But it is nonetheless commendable Sherwood has striven to keep it about the club, both in the present and moving forwards. As well as—despite criticism from some quarters—repaying the supporters.